“Ivan,” she began, putting aside her pride. “I never thanked you properly for helping me.”
“I was there on my own accord.” His response was not the friendly response she hoped for, but it was better than his usual tone.
“I want to thank you too, Ivan,” added Colin. “Without your help my sister might not be here today, at least, that’s what she tells me.”
Meghan shot daggers at him.
“I can’t say as I was much help. I think she had some luck on her side that day, too,” he said, glancing at the book sticking out of Colin’s jacket.
The look on Ivan’s face said, You’re not going to tell me what’s so special about that book, are you?
The carriage reached the edge of the town where the wagon door would take them out to Grimble, and Meghan asked the driver to return two hours later. No sooner than they had gotten into Grimble and out of sight of the wagons, Timothy appeared.
“Hey guys, Merry Christmas.”
They returned the greeting and followed him to the old mill where Uncle Eddy greeted them.
“Merry Christmas everyone, Meghan, Colin, Jae, and, someone new.”
“Uncle Eddy, this is Ivan Crane, he helped me get the book back, maybe saved my life,” she admitted, dutifully. Colin glanced at her sideways about to make fun, but stopped himself.
“I can’t thank you enough then, Ivan Crane.”
“Glad to be of service, sir.” He eyed Uncle Eddy curiously.
“Sit, sit,” Eddy insisted. “Not much time, not much time.”
Timothy kept Ivan and Jae busy, allowing Meghan to relay details of the ghost compound ordeal. Jae explained to Ivan that that Eddy was the twins’ dead uncle.
After finishing, Eddy exclaimed, “Now you understand why it is vital to keep that book safe.”
“Uncle Eddy, why am I supposed to have this book?” Colin dared to ask, hoping for an answer.
“The book understands what it needs, ask it sometime. You never know what it might tell you.”
“Ask it? I never thought of that,” said Colin.
Ivan and Jae grew weary of Timothy and joined the conversation with Uncle Eddy, who after a few minutes pulled Ivan aside. Meghan assumed he wanted to thank Ivan privately, for his help and left them alone.
“Ivan, I don’t have much time, so I will be blunt. I can tell you recognize me. You would have been a small child, but you remember me. I beg you to keep my secret and please, what you are planning… I implore you, don’t do it!” His ghostly face pleaded.
Ivan stammered out his reply. “I… I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do, Ivan. I won’t treat you like an idiot, because you’re not. But there are things even you do not yet understand. It is all I will say. All I can say. Just please reconsider. And by all means, be careful. You’re playing with fire. A fire that does not like to play.”
Ivan had no reply.
Eddy left him to his thoughts.
After a few minutes, he put on a strained smile and rejoined the rest of them.
“We should be getting back soon,” said Jae.
Ivan nodded in eager agreement. “The carriage will be returning to pick us up soon.”
“Just a bit longer,” implored Meghan. She laughed, seeing Timothy swirl around Colin’s head playfully.
“Timothy,” Colin said, curiously. “If you don’t mind talking about it, how did you die?” He felt bad asking, but wanted to know how a non-magical ghost came to be in Grimble.
Timothy’s eyes widened and he whisked closer to Colin.
“It was terrifying, actually. I died in a fire.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” replied Colin. “That is terrifying.”
“I lived in an orphanage,” explained Timothy. “One rainy night I was lying awake in my bed, and I heard voices outside, so I tiptoed to the window. We got into a lot of trouble if we got caught out of bed. But I did it anyway. When I looked out of the window, I saw three people standing in the shadows, holding something in a blanket, and then poof, they vanished. I ran back to my bed and hid under the covers. After a while, I snuck back to the window, but there was nothing there.
“Then, out of nowhere, there was something. A man, at least I think it was a man. His face looked caved in and a bit yellow. I watched him point something at the orphanage and a few minutes later a fire started. It burned everything. I remember helping kids get out, and then I got stuck in a room. The smoke was so thick I couldn’t see. The next thing I knew, I was dead.”
Colin thought that was the end of the sad story, but Timothy continued.
“After I died, I decided to hang around for a few days. I guess I wasn’t ready to move on yet. The headmistress of the orphanage was heartbroken. I remember her crying for three children lost in the fire.
“On the third night, a woman showed up, sobbing. I can still hear her voice, ‘I was coming for you.’ She sat for hours staring at the rubble, realizing whatever or whoever she was looking for was gone. I don’t know if she ever found who she was looking for, or if they were one of the unfortunate ones that died the same night I did.”
“I really hope you get to move on soon, Timothy,” said Colin. “This is not a good place for you.”
“It’s not so bad. It will be a lot more boring once you’re all gone. But I’ll go on helping the new arrivals,” he smiled. Timothy became his happy, playful self in no time.
Colin called Meghan over and explained what he had just heard.
“Poor Timothy,” she replied, at the same time thinking something about Timothy’s story sounded familiar. She could not place why.
“I don’t mean to be a party pooper,” interrupted Jae. “But we really do have to get going. Mom’ll be furious if we’re late for Christmas dinner.”
“Yes,” agreed Ivan, eager to leave.
“Yes,” said Uncle Eddy as well. “It is time for us all to go.”
The twins hoped it did not mean what they feared.
“Now? Are you sure? We still have almost a week before we leave Grimble,” reminded Colin.
“I’m sorry, but it is time. Come, I believe I have two more pieces of that candy in my pocket and I would love nothing more than one last hug.”
Meghan fought off tears. Colin couldn’t hold it back, a tear dripped down his cheek. Out of politeness, Jae and Ivan walked away, allowing the twins some privacy. Eddy popped the candy in his mouth revealing a living uncle. They hugged him together as hard as they could.
“Okay now, I’ve only got a minute,” he knelt in front of Colin. “You are as tall as your actions. Keep the book safe, and I am so very proud of you.”
He turned to Meghan.
“I couldn’t be prouder than I am right now, seeing what you have already accomplished. Above all else,” he said to them both, “never break your bond.”
They hugged him one last time and stepped back as the ghostly uncle returned.
“It’s time,” Eddy said, extending his hand to Timothy. “Are you coming?” he asked lightheartedly.
“Really and truly?” Timothy replied, his ghostly eyes widening.
“Really and truly,” replied their uncle.
“I can’t believe it! I’m finally going home,” he shouted, readily grasping Eddy’s hand. “I can feel it now. Pulling me home. I guess my business is finally finished.”
The twins could not help but smile. And wonder. Timothy had told them the story of how he died; was that what he’d been here all this time to do? Was this story important to them? It didn’t matter right now, but they’d keep it in their memory banks just in case.
“You better take good care of our uncle, Timothy,” ordered Meghan, through her sniffles.
“You bet I will,” he said. They floated higher and higher into the gray sky.
Jae came over and waved alongside Meghan and Colin. They heard the echo of Uncle Eddy’s voice, one last time.
“Remember that you always have each other.”
What
they did not hear, however, was this:
“You did a good job, Tim, keeping yourself in that cell, pretending you couldn’t get out.”
“She fell for it just like you said she would, and she used magic all on her own, just like you hoped.”
“Yes, Tim, she did. I only hope I did enough.”
“They have a rough road ahead, don’t they Mr. Gillivray?”
The ghost who had called himself the twins’ uncle sighed, taking one last glance below.
“Yes, Tim,” he answered. “A road even I wouldn’t want to travel.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The foursome slowly made their way back to the carriage. Once inside, Nona licked Meghan’s face, then snuggled up between her and Colin, licking Colin’s salty, tear covered hand. It was hard to stay sad for long. The streets of the Svoda village were lined with twinkling lights, and the Mochrie house was full of good cheer. Ivan and Jae entered the house, leaving Colin and Meghan outside.
Footsteps trudging through the snow caught their attention.
“Merry Christmas, Ditch Witches,” croaked the voice of Darcy Scraggs.
“What do you want?” asked Meghan, bored of Darcy’s games.
“I’m getting quite tired of you two screwing up my plans.”
“Have you ever considered making better plans then, Darcy?” challenged Colin, much to the surprise and delight of Meghan.
“You will so pay for that,” she retorted. “One of these days, I will figure out what you’re up to!” She haughtily strode away.
“You know, Col, as much as I wanted it to be Darcy that hurt you, I don’t think she had anything to do with it.” Meghan hated to admit it.
“No. I think she’s your basic run of the mill bully. Not that Garner isn’t up to something. But, I’m not going to worry about it today.”
Meghan twisted her head, staring at her brother with a raised eyebrow.
The sun was setting over the horizon, the air was crisp, and today, nothing could dampen their spirits.
“C’mon Little Sis,” said Colin, shifting his body so he could reach up and put his arm around her neck. “It’s Christmas.”
She put her arm around him, laughed, and they disappeared inside.
Much later that night:
“Hey, Meghan,” it was nearly three a.m.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“Do you think we’ll get to meet some other long lost relative, wherever we go next?”
“Doubt it, Col. Probably be much more boring than Grimble.”
A minute later, he called out, “Meghan,” again.
“Go to sleep, Colin,” she pleaded.
“There’s my sister,” he closed his eyes.
“Goodnight,” she muttered as another echo filled her ear. “What now, Colin?”
“Huh,” he replied. “I didn’t say anything.” He rolled over, opening his curtain, checking that the door was locked. Corny had not visited him for a while, but they had decided to keep the door locked, just in case.
A reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall across from Colin’s bed caught his eye. His breath hitched. Corny’s scribblings were readable! How had he not noticed it before? Corny had been writing backwards. And sort of sideways, but looking into the mirror it formed words.
“They will take it, keep it safe,” Colin read.
It was written on every page. Over and over.
He lay back down, dumbfounded, and very much wishing he had been smart enough to see it before he had been attacked. He made an instant decision to start being friendlier to Corny Tibbitt.
“May need him on my side if anyone gets it in their head to steal the Magicante again.” He tried to fall back to sleep but heard a distant voice from his sister’s mind.
“The,” and “father,” were the only words he could make out.
“Meghan, are you dreaming, or playing a joke on me?”
“Thanks to you, I’m not asleep enough to be dreaming, and I am way too tired for jokes.”
“Then whose voice is in your head?”
Meghan sat up. “That wasn’t you talking?”
“Sorry, Sis, it’s a distant echo. Not in my head, just yours.”
“If it’s not you, who is it? Why can I hear another voice in my head? This better not be the next stage of my Firemancy… hearing voices!” she huffed. “Goodnight already,” she shot to Colin.
He did not answer as he had drifted off to sleep.
He dreamed of the silver haired girl.
Not long after he bolted upright in bed, instantly and fully awake. It was still night and the Mochrie house was fast asleep, including Meghan.
“The hospital! That girl, Catrina, she was in the room I thought was Meghan’s.” His conscious mind finally put two and two together, realizing that his dream girl, and the hospital girl, were one and the same. He jumped out of bed sneakily getting dressed and tiptoed out of the house.
The night air was biting cold. He entered the hospital and went to the level where he had first seen the girl. The room was empty. A nurse he did not recognize slept behind a counter. Colin cleared his throat, waking her.
“Sorry,” he said. “I wanted to ask, where is the girl that was in that room?” He pointed out the one.
“Girl?” she questioned, half awake. “Not sure who you’re talking about, young man,” Seeing Colin’s disappointed face she added, “Sorry, kid, we never use this level for patients, seeing as we barely ever have any. Just a break area now.” She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.
Colin stared into the empty room, reluctantly leaving the hospital, wondering if he had remembered wrong.
“No! That part was no dream. She was there. I saw her sleeping.”
Catrina’s words echoed in his head.
“I need your help, Colin Jacoby, as much as you will need mine. You are the only one that can help me.”
Colin replayed her warning, and somewhere deep in his soul, knew he needed to find her, and soon.
The Quest Continues in Book 3, Embrace:
The Shifter, The Magic Map, and The Goblin King.
Get the Girl. Get the Prize. Get out Alive.
Continue Reading Book 3: Get it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010GGPMLO
In Book 3…
In the land of the Goblin King, magic is strictly forbidden!
At least, that’s what everyone’s been told. Regardless, it doesn't stop Colin Jacoby from breaking the rules when he locates his dream girl. The only problem—she's a prisoner running out of time.
Simultaneously, his sister and now Firemancer in training, Meghan Jacoby, is mortified to learn she’ll be working alongside the forever irritable Ivan Crane when the Queen sends them on a dangerous, but life-saving quest.
For brother and sister, this means dual secret missions into the heart of the Goblin Valley. Where devilish creatures come to life after dark and the landscape changes each morning. Where deadly obstacles lurk at every turn and questions and mysteries pile up faster than they can be answered, or solved.
But when the quest goes terribly wrong and war breaks out, it becomes a race to get out alive for everyone. Colin's magic surprises all, but in the process, he awakens something inside of himself that might lead to the destruction of the entire magical world.
Read Book 3: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010GGPMLO
Review Book 2 (I'd super appreciate it) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00570IAX2
Get more details about the series and get on the VIP LIST for upcoming releases from Jackal Lantern Books. http://www.jackallanternbooks.com/p/fated-fantasy-adventur.html
THE FATED FANTASY ADVENTURE SERIES IS COMPLETE
Please Read in Order Starting with Book 1, Awaken
Book 1: Awaken
Book 2: Shifting
Book 3: Embrace
Book 4: Broken
Book 5: Divided
Book 6: Taken
Book 7: Control
Book 8: F
orsaken
Book 9: Sacrifice
Book 10: Redeem
Book 11: Ascend (The Final Book in the Series)
Shifting (The Prophecy, The Spy, and The Ghostly Guardian) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 2) Page 27
